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Serveware is one of my favourite catering and restaurant supplies to talk about. I know it’s nerdy but I really think that with the right kind of serveware (along with the esteemed Chef’s skilled plating skills) a passed hors d’oeuvre, buffet, or catering station can be transformed into a work of art. Caterers, restaurants, event venues and party rental companies need to stay on trend in the competitive market of special events so I thought it made sense to provide a glimpse into what serveware trends we’re seeing from a restaurant and catering supplier point-of-view. Here’s the first of the two part blog post series.

In terms of the latest trends in servingware, buffet trays and gorgeous food displays, there’s still a very rustic, elemental theme happening in the serveware trends. Chefs tend to be using slate, wood, marble, and glass as platters to add another texture and layer to their platings.

Picture Source: American Metalcraft

We’re seeing lots of buffets outfitted with lucite / clear acrylic stands similar to these food displays below offered by SmartBuffetware.

Photo Source: SmartBuffetware

Bite-sized offerings in the form of amuse bouche and single bite hors d’oeuvres are still on trend with Chefs utilizing bamboo skewers, amuse bouche cutlery, hors d’oeuvre forks (both disposable and stainless steel), wonton spoons and porcelain tasting spoons for easy sampling.

As far as shaped serveware is concerned, still trending are square and oval dishes along with other interesting shaped dishes such as a wide rim bowl, straight slanted bowl and quad divided bowl.

Glassware is also being used in the form of shot glasses, stemless glasses and martini glasses.

Photo Source: Hostess Handbook

Our Catering Customers and Party Rental Customers are asking for greater varieties of melamine servingware for increased durability from chipping, and breakage.

They’re also looking for new and unique shapes and smaller plates for tapas and other hors d’oeuvres.

Tables and chairs are a very important foundation almost any event uses. Finding a supplier of wholesale tables and chairs for events that are of great commercial quality while still being good value for the product can be a challenge. Oftentimes party rental companies and event venues are also looking for larger quantities (think bulk folding chairs, bulk dinnerware etc) than a traditional retail supplier can handle at any one location. That’s why there are event equipment sales companies that exist in the industry – to provide large quantities of commercial quality products to the special event rentals industry. To help you with your search, here are the North American event equipment sales companies broken down by country:

Canada

Canada Chair –Located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Chair offers quality commercial chairs, tables and other furniture products to institutions across Canada. They’ve been in business since 1955 and specialize in stackable and folding chairs, folding tables and carts.

Just in Time Tables & Chairs – Located in Aurora, Ontario, Just in Time Tables & Chairs was established in 2003 to provide carefully selected quality tables and chairs for banquet facilities, hotels and churches. They service the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) with a wide selection of tables, chairs, transport carts and other related products.

Special Events Sales – Located in Edmonton, Alberta, Special Event Sales, the event equipment sales division of Special Event Rentals, offers sale inventory of chairs, tables, dance floors, RaceDeck floors, barbeques, linens, tradeshow equipment, concession equipment, catering equipment, and stanchions and ropes. They offer both new and used sale equipment to help meet all customer needs.

United States of America

Event Décor Direct – Headquartered in Deerfield Beach, FL, Event Décor Direct have been involved in the event and wedding decor industry since 1988 and we bring nearly 25 years of industry experience to their products and services. They do not offer cheap trinkets and junk as their products are "field tested" and are designed for the rigors of commercial use. They offer wood folding tables and event chairs shipped to throughout the US and to Canada with no duties or brokerage.

Event Equipment Sales – Founded in 1993 and located just outside of Chicago, Illinois, EES was established out of necessity to help support their growing rental operation, then known as Chicago Party Rental (it was eventually sold). Their goal is to help clients create the most dynamic events by supplying innovative, reliable and competitively priced portable event products.

Global Event Supply – Located in Fontana, California with a warehouse in Miami Florida, they are a direct importer of all styles of tables, chairs and equipment for the party, event and hospitality industry. They ship throughout the United States and Canada and offer very competitive pricing.

McCourt Manufacturing – Located in Fort Smith, Arkansas, McCourt Manufacturing produces stackable folding chairs, stackable stationary chairs, plywood folding tables, and other event products. Their primary market is the rental industry, but we also supply the hospitality, school and church markets, as well as individuals and commercial businesses.

Midas Event Supply – Located in Ontario, California with a Canadian arm in Mississauga, ON, Midas Event Supply sells a selection of wholesale party rental supplies including; wood folding chairs, Chivari chairs (Chiavari chairs), banquet tables, resin folding chairs, cocktail tables, table linens and event accessories.

Palmer Snyder Furniture – Palmer Snyder is an American manufacturer and distributor of commercial portable furniture, specializing in products that excel in portability, stackability and storability. Our product line consists of many varieties of folding tables and portable seating, plus portable dance floor, lecterns and beverage service stations. They manufacture and distribute from their factory in Conneautville, Pennsylvania. Other major locations include corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and sales office in Louisville, Kentucky.

P.R.E. Sales Inc – Located in San Diego, California, with a secondary warehouse in Moonachie, New Jersey, PRE Sales sells products including a wide variety of folding chairs, stacking chairs, Chiavari ballroom chairs, banquet chairs, wood tables with folding legs, plastic tables, cocktail tables with pedestal-style bases, market umbrellas, bar stools, chairs, table dollies and much more.

Richwood Imports – Based in Ontario, California with a warehouse in Memphis Tennessee, Richwood Imports has been serving the special event industry since 1994 offering wholesale event chairs & cushions, tables, chair and table dollies, dinnerware, glassware and more.

Tent and Table – Based in Buffalo, New York, for over 25 years Tent and Table has been in business setting up, delivering, and supplying commercial grade bounce houses and equipment. They also offer a variety of wedding tents, which include pole tents and frame tents with banquet chairs and banquet tables.

With warehouses in Mississauga, Ontario, Brampton, Ontario and Vancouver British Columbia, National Event Supply is a wholesale supplier of event equipment to the party rental, event venue, golf course, hotel, catering and restaurant industries. With informal in-house testing (along with BIFMA standards and manufacturer standards) to our banquet tables and event chairs, we’re on a mission to not only have stock whenever a rental company needs it, but also have superior commercial grade products for our customers to trust their business reputation on.

You just received your new NES Glass Rack Cart and you are wondering how to assemble it. Look no further for a full run down of the pieces you should receive in your package as well as assembly instructions and tools that are required.

What you should receive:

• (4x) Swiveling Wheels
• (1x) Base Cart Unit
• (4x) Screws (for Glass Rack Cart with Handle Only)
• (1x) Handle (for Glass Rack Cart with Handle Only)

Tools Required (Not Included)

• Screwdriver (for Glass Rack Cart with Handle Only)

Step 1:

First unpack the box to ensure you have received all of the parts. The master pack will include a box inside containing the wheels, bolts and lock washers, along with the handle (if you purchased a glass rack dolly with handle) and base cart unit. (If you haven’t received all the parts, please let us know by calling 1-800-827-8953 or contacting sales@nationaleventsupply.com) Once this has been confirmed you can start to assemble the cart.

Step 2:

Turn the base cart unit over so that the brackets that hold the wheels are pointing up.

Step 3:

Insert the wheels into the holes on the corner and press to fit.

Step 4:

Repeat Step 3 until all wheels are installed. If you purchased the cart without handle your cart is now complete. If you purchased the cart with handle, continue onto step 5.

Step 5:

Push handle into provided brackets on the bottom of the cart. This may take a fair amount of force to ensure the handle is in all the way. The handle is in all the way when you can see all 4 holes where you install the screws.

Step 6:

Install 4 provided screws to secure handle. Your cart with handle is now complete!

When our Operations Manager first said we were adding glass racks to our inventory I was super excited as customers and prospects had been asking us for these. When our first samples arrived though it suddenly occurred to me I had absolutely no idea how to tell a customer or prospect what glass rack they should be buying. I needed to learn pronto. Thankfully though, glass rack sizing isn’t a particularly difficult concept once you’re taught it. I’m going to walk through a glass rack sizing scenario below utilizing our Serenity Crystal Champagne Flute and our Victoria 28oz Crystal Wine Glass.

1. You always start with a basic glass rack.

This is what keeps your glasses from falling out of the rack and features handles so you can carry the glass rack.

2. Measure the widest part of your glass – whether that is the foot, the stem, the bowl or the rim.

For the Serenity champagne flute the widest part is the foot which measures 2.75” inches wide. For the Victoria 28oz wine glass, the widest part is the bowl which measures 4.5” inches wide.

3. Once you’ve measured the widest part of your glass, you want to find the compartment size that best fits the width of your glass. You will only have one full drop extender and one basic glass rack.

Based on the table above, the Serenity champagne flute best matches with the 36 compartment full drop extender. The Victoria wine glass best matches the 9 compartment full drop extender.

4. To ensure the height of the glass is covered, you choose as many half drop extenders (in the same number of compartments that fit your glass width) necessary to cover the entire height of the glass minus the basic glass rack height and full drop extender height.

The Serenity Champagne Flute has a height of 9.13”. The Victoria Wine Glass has a height of 8.9” and the Victoria old fashioned glass has a height of 3.5”. Each half drop extender regardless of the number of compartments has a height of 1.56”. Each full drop extender regardless of the number of compartments has a height of 3.5”. Therefore, in order to ensure the Serenity Champagne flute is properly secured you would need:

Basic glass rack + 36 compartment full drop extender (3.5”) + 4*[36 compartment half drop extenders (1.56”)] = 9.74” which fits the Serenity Champagne Flute height of 9.13”.

Or

• 1x Basic Glass Rack
• 1x 36 compartment full drop extender
• 4x 36 compartment half drop extenders

In order to ensure the Victoria Wine Glass is properly secured you would need:

Basic glass rack + 9 compartment full drop extender (3.5”) + 4*[9 compartment half drop extenders (1.56”)] = 9.74” which fits the Victoria Wine Glass height 8.9”

OR

• 1x Basic Glass Rack
• 1x 9 compartment full drop extender
• 4x 9 compartment half drop extenders

Note that the basic glass rack’s measurements are not included because when the full drop extender is secured into the basic glass rack, it is flush to the base creating no extra height requirements.

5. Then you need to figure out how many glasses you need to wash, store and transport.

If you need to store 50 champagne flutes, and each glass rack that properly secures the champagne flutes stores 36, then you would need 3 of the basic racks, 3 of the 36 compartment full drop extenders and 12 of the 36 compartment half drop extenders.

If you need to store 110 Wine Glasses, and each glass rack that properly secures the wine glasses stores 9, then you would need 13 of basic racks, 13 of the 9 compartment full drop extenders and 52 of the 9 compartment half drop extenders.

Back in May of 2015 we brought in chair covers for sale in both polyester and spandex. These wedding chair covers are fabulous for event venues and party rental companies – but only if they had round-backed banquet chairs. If they wanted to cover folding chairs, square backed banquet chairs, unfortunately we didn’t have a solution. We knew that we needed to continue adding to our event chair cover inventory because there’s more types of chairs out there than round backed banquet chairs. Plus, it just makes sense to supply as chair covers are such a great way for event venues and party rental companies to maintain their investment in banquet chairs. They help avoid staining to the original banquet chair fabric, they’re easier to launder and the covers come in neutral colours that naturally lend themselves to wedding décor in particular.

I’m excited to announce a new product in stock: spandex folding chair covers.

Available in black or white, our spandex folding chair covers fit NES Reliable Plastic Folding Chairs or similar Samsonite chairs. They feature reinforced feet pockets in the same colour as the chair cover and an elastic band that should be tucked under the folding chair seat to emphasize the intersection of the chair back and seat back. The chair covers are made of 190 gsm spandex fabric, require no ironing and offer a sleek contemporary look to folding chairs.